


I've lost control over my life, I'm very sure

by varupikusu



Category: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: Aranella lives AU, Gen, I Tried, Old Man stuck in a kid's body AU, aranella adds a question mark every time something happens, combination of situations make this poor man extra dead inside, fuck it; I say as I click on the post button, it's 11pm the tags probably don't really make sense until the next ones whoops, just the first tiny bit of plot, that or he doesn't even know what to do with this extra deadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 23:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16649878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varupikusu/pseuds/varupikusu
Summary: Good days were when she could figure out where things were going. This was not one, Aranella concluded.A little tryout with a combination of Nella lives and stuck as a kid Roland AUs. Probably will stick to one to two chapters.





	I've lost control over my life, I'm very sure

  The governess of Ding Dong Dell ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and to Oakenhart, the Kingmaker that was yet to be bonded to a king, she prayed that she could be fast enough.

  Aranella drove her dagger into the back of a mage trying to yell for backup and kept going- Ratja had hurried to find her and tell her that an explosion had occurred near where Evan resided. They had only found out Mausinger’s plans only two days earlier…! A flare of fury rose as she thought about it. To poison their king; how long had she gone on her merry way without knowing it?

  But now was not the time. Now, she had to find Evan and the Mark of Kings; then she could find a way out with the juvenile king. 

  The floor rumbled, and she turned the corner to see two mouse guards standing in the hallway preceding the stairway to Evan’s quarters. They had their backs turned to her, but the doors, emblazoned with fish-like patterns, was half-open. Did that mean-

  A flurry of footsteps, and to Aranella’s shock, Evan ran out from into the hallway, golden locks of hair swinging as the half-grimalkin king pointed at something behind the doors. “Guards! Seize him!” She clamped her mouth shut on a shout of warning(which spelled danger for both her and her liege), gripped her dagger, and charged.

  Two silent takedowns later, Evan blinked, furrowed expression becoming a relieved grin. “Ne-” She shushed him. “We don’t have time to explain. You have to-” Right. Wasn’t Evan demanding the arrest of someone? She rested a hand on Evan’s shoulders and stepped forward, dagger at the ready. “Come out.”

  The door opened, and for a moment, Aranella had to squint. 

  The stranger- the _boy_ with scruffy black hair, brown eyes and thick eyebrows was even shorter than Evan was- dressed in… the stiff indigo jacket and trousers seemed like those Broadleaf people who visited just a few months earlier, but much more formal. None of which reassured her in the slightest. When did he find his way to Evan’s room? Was he a scout of the mousefolk, intended to lower Evan’s caution before luring him to his capturers?

  And then she saw the black metal contraption the boy held in his hand, and was reminded of the weapons Broadleafers wielded when they tried to promote their magic. Or technology. Gun? Not the time to dwell on wording. Did Broadleaf somehow have a hand in this betrayal? “Drop it.” She hissed. The intruder carefully did, then raised his arms in a surrendering gesture, kicking the weapon towards her. She took it and put it away in her arms band- a thought that maybe she was being overly cautious, but the circumstances called for-

  “What’s taking the two so long?” A voice from the adjacent corridor. “My men should be reporting in any minute!” Evan turned to her, about to- “I think I know what this is.” The black-haired boy said quietly. “A coup, isn’t it?” “A-” “We don’t have time, Evan.” She should try to convince Evan to talk quieter some time. Aranella took Evan’s hand and started leading him back to his room, where the Mark of Kings- and an escape route lay hidden in a hidden chamber underneath his bed. A small mutter of genuine surprise from the boy as the two passed him. “Why are you going back? Shouldn’t you be…” 

  Well, if this child had anything to do with the coup, it didn’t seem safe to let him run free(or to set him against the mercy of the rats, as a voice in her head loudly nagged). Aranella paused, then turned to the boy. “You’re coming with us.”

\---

  The escape passed without conversation, for the most part. Once Aranella had explained what Mausinger had done, Evan had lapsed into silence. She couldn’t blame him- for most of the young king’s life, Mausinger had been to his father a most trusted advisor and to him, almost an uncle. And then they all found out that this most trusted advisor had been getting his underlings to slip poison into his king’s food for- for months. Thinking about it only made her want to dash something against the wall.

  As for the unknown boy… She glanced back at him- as with before, he only kept a watchful eye and pace. It unnerved her, to say the least, how he didn’t act at all like his age. But how so? She couldn’t lay her finger on it. Not quite yet.

  Light came from ahead of them, and they stepped out from the crude rock passage into a clearing, where the Springlands’ sky-reaching rock pillars stood out in the landscape beyond. The evening sky flared in a blaze of reds and oranges, the thunderstorm having let up while they were underground. She remembered to breathe once she made sure no one was around. 

  “We’ll stay here for the night.”

  They settled down quickly, the trek and all the things that occured having worn Evan out. The other boy(it felt almost awkward to not know someone’s name for an entire day) sat down a few paces further away. The oranges in the sky faded to blue, then to black, then the stars lit up the sky.

  Aranella stared into the small fire she’d made- just next to her, Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, once-king of Ding Dong Dell, slumbered. Them being alive was a victory. But now what? They had no home to speak of. Or any measure of power, with the Kingsbond ceremony being interrupted by the coup. Anyone who did know of them either would be placing a wanted poster on their decapitated skulls or think they were dead. 

  Kingsbond… they _could_ seek the aid of a new Kingmaker, for starters. The closest unclaimed one was off the shore, north of the Springlands. There was a route midway through Cloudcoil that led to a waterway- maybe it was too ambitious for them at the moment. If they took a longer route, they could leave the vicinity of Ding Dong Dell, seek a boat from Capstan-upon-Hull and work from there. Still, the sole passageway out of the northern Springlands...

  A movement from a few paces away. Aranella glanced to see the boy scrubbing almost furiously at his face. Eventually he looked up, face wet, and as he met Aranella’s eyes, a fresh tear making its way down. Her heart squeezed at the sight of it- the years and then weeks of comforting grieving children made it easier, and the boy might had caught on to her expression. “Sorry.” With a frustrated mutter, he rubbed at his face again. “I’m- I don’t know why it doesn’t stop.” 

  The wording hit an alarm, once again, but she passed a piece of cloth over, sweeping that thought away. “Thanks.” The boy said. For a while, he all but covered his face with it, eventually lowering it and grimacing at the handkerchief. “Ugh.”

  She could assume it was an attempt at lightening the mood. “How much do you know?” Aranella asked, and watched as the boy went oddly vacant. “Actually- what is your name?” After a pause, the boy spoke up, folding up the handkerchief and setting it aside. “Roland. As to your first question… Only that Evan Pe… Pettiwhisker Tildrum is king of Ding Dong Dell, because that’s how he introduced himself when I-” Roland’s face was set in a deep frown. “When I landed in his room, I guess.”

  With that first gap-filled answer, the speculation of this boy being a possible amnesiac was already starting to take shape- with some other horrifying implications Aranella wasn’t about to start considering yet. “Are you from Broadleaf?” She was aware of her tone softening, and just as aware that the boy’s look had gone vacant again. “Broad…” Roland pressed a hand to his neck and stared at the stars dotting the skies above. “To be honest, I don’t know that name.”

  Well, if that didn’t make things more complicated. Broadleaf was really her best bet regarding Roland’s origins; even if it was an entire continent and a rift in the sea away. Aranella stoked the embers with a stick before trying again. “Anything that you remember? At all?”

  For a split second, the shifting flames seemed to cast a ghost of a shadow over Roland’s face- then it was gone. The young boy squeezed his nose with one hand for a few seconds before releasing it. “I was...” He said slowly, then almost visibly deflated in posture, shaking his head.

  The fire continued crackling quietly. As much as Aranella would have liked to provide any comfort in that matter, it ultimately meant that it wasn’t safe for neither the Dellian escapees nor the boy to stick together. Before the coup occurred, she had caught wind of increasing activity of both the sky pirates and wyverns around the area- territorial disputes, apparently- even border patrol was ordered to stay away from the high cliffs. They might have some luck sneaking past any unfriendly groups, but knowing that it was _luck_...

  “Alright.” She exhaled air through her nose. “We’ll find somewhere safe, then you’re on your own.” It left a bad taste in her mouth as she said it, it really did- but she had to keep as few witnesses to their plans as they could. If the boy spoke the truth, he would be under good care until he remembered. Otherwise… The most this one could say was that they parted ways soon after the coup. Roland nodded. 

  “I understand.” Then he returned his gaze back towards the night sky.

\---

  It was almost a relief that by the next day, Evan looked less stunned, but as he sat on a flat rock, his tail lashed. “What do we do now?” He asked. Aranella went over the options again, but how-

  “What do you want to do, Evan?” Roland asked, legs crossed on the floor. Evan’s ears perked up in surprise as he answered. “Well… I’d still like to go back and reason with Mausinger.” “We can’t do that when we-” Roland raised a hand to his chin. “-when you are just two people. With a coup like that, you’ll sooner be seen having a death wish than wanting to talk when you go back there.” 

  What was it with this kid that sounded like he was ten times older than he looked? “And if I’m not wrong,” Aranella added, “there’s a good chance Oakenhart has accepted Mausinger. Sudden snappings of the Kingsbond are painful for its associated Kingmaker.” “So you’re saying… we should get our own Kingmaker first?” Evan’s tail lashed again. Aranella nodded. “I think we both know where the cradle is.”

\---

  A scream could be heard from further down the grassy plains, where a lady stumbled back, dodging a swooping wyvern. “Ooh, what did I ever _do_ to you, I ask?!” She yelled, almost raising a fist as if trying to fight back. “Come back here, you blasted fiend, you! I’ll give you-” 

  “She needs help!’ Evan exclaimed, now clad in a hooded cloak. He summoned a staff from the arms band and quite simply, charged. “Evan!” Aranella yelled and chased after him, but the wyvern somehow lost height, screeching. The young king cast the standard blue magic orbs that homed in on its target- but the magic didn’t quite hit its target, instead kicking up dust and soil as they bombarded the ground. (It needed practice, Aranella conceded.) When it settled, the wyvern could be seen flapping its wings, as though shaking off something, and Evan took the opportunity to drive a sword down on the monster. She turned around-

  Roland was gone. He had been right behind them up until the fight, and then… Aranella pushed back a nagging thought that she should be very concerned how an unarmed child would fare out in the monster-infested wild and glanced the surroundings. If he really was a spy, then he couldn’t have-

  The older woman- clad in a bonnet and dress with apron- that needed help strutted over, Evan following close behind. “And this is your companion, yes?” She asked, and upon Evan’s nod. “I really don’t know what would’ve happened if you two haven’t strolled by!” Aranella shook her head hastily. “No, no, I didn’t help much-” “P’shaw, don’t be shy now! Name’s Martha, you see. Auntie Martha for those I’ve taken a liking to, and that includes you two, my dearies!” Martha adjusted her hat. “I heard from your boy here that there was a coup in Ding Dong Dell that you’re both running from. Why don’t you rest your feet a little at my cottage before setting off?”

  As they trailed after Auntie Martha, Evan sidled up next to Aranella. “Roland, he’s-” “Gone. I know.” She was still trying to look without changing her pace. Still nowhere to be seen. Evan joined in, brows furrowed in concentration. “Is he going to be fine?” He asked, grass rustling under his shoes. Aranella sighed. “I hope so.” She admitted.

  A shout ahead of them made them turn their attention back to Auntie Martha, who had just entered the cottage. Aranella took her dagger out and hurried over towards the doorway. “Auntie Martha!” 

  As she got closer, she could hear Auntie Martha from inside her house, tone soft. “...you’re lost, aren’t you? Of course you’re welcome here, lil’ one.” The older lady stood in the doorway, leaning over something. Aranella and Evan crept closer. “... Auntie Martha?” Evan asked again, and Auntie Martha turned around.

  Roland half-peeked out from behind Martha, and upon meeting the Dellian escapees’ stares, rose a finger in a shushing motion, then mouthed _we don’t know each other_. (Aranella found herself appreciating this show of artifice.) “Look at all these visitors I’m getting!” Auntie Martha clapped her hands. “I’ll have to get my lovelies to sort things out.”

  Lovelies? Aranella watched as dishes and even chairs started moving by themselves. Both Evan and Roland seemed to stare intently at the moving furniture. There was more than enough to try to figure out already- hopefully nothing else past this point.

**Author's Note:**

> That title relates to both me and Aranella. I've been procrastinating to make this lmao
> 
> Anyway I just wanted to get this out of m'system ever since the Kid Roland AU rolled around so don't mind me and my honestly not great characterization here. Almost had Nella drop Roland off at Auntie Martha's house like it's completely nothing before the idea that Roland sneaked off by himself to pose as a separate lost kid came around. He actually does remember everything, the amnesia thing Aranella mentioned just got him to use the idea for now.
> 
> My current plot coverage only goes to Cloudcoil so I'm most likely sticking to that for now. Maybe once I finish off depression dad duo aka the Kingmakers AU I'll turn my attention here? Maybe. This one feels a bit hard to pull off, to be honest.


End file.
